25th Annual Instructional Design Conference

Get the juices firing with a delicious continental breakfast. Pick up your name tag and enter the raffle, too.

The keynote explores how emerging technologies are transforming the academic landscape. It begins with foundational innovation principles and the need for forward-thinking in higher education. The presentation dives into the practical application of virtual reality, augmented reality, and artificial intelligence to enhance student engagement and skill development. Additionally, it will spotlight the Meta-Bodyswaps Grant awarded to TCNJ’s Nursing program, which equips students with VR tools to practice critical communication skills in a safe and immersive environment. This initiative exemplifies how virtual reality can enhance soft skills training, preparing students for complex real-world scenarios such as patient care and job interviews. Participants will also gain actionable insights on identifying institutional needs and leveraging cutting-edge technologies to launch innovative projects that drive meaningful educational outcomes.

From creating web-based resources to leading hands-on workshops and consultations, the Instructional Technology and Design Services (ITDS) team at Montclair State University is supporting faculty in exploring Generative AI tools and recognizing their pedagogical potential. In this session, Montclair instructional designers Joe Yankus and Qian (Lora) Yao will share their experience developing faculty-facing AI resources for broad and subject-specific audiences. A specific success story of using Custom GPTs in the classroom will be shared, where GenAI was leveraged to teach soft skills through enhanced role-play and real-time feedback.

Research-focused generative AI tools like ResearchRabbit, Scite, and Consensus are trained on giant collections of journal articles, making them an intriguing new category of options for teaching, learning, and scholarship. In contrast with the headline-grabbing genAI tools that tap most of the Wild Wild Web (e.g., DeepSeek, ChatGPT, Claude), these research-oriented AI tools are perhaps better suited for us to use and to share with students. These tools can handle key aspects of any academic research process: Summarize individual studies; synthesize themes across multiple articles; and visualize thematic connections between works. During this hands-on workshop, let’s collaboratively explore the possibilities for student learning and for our own work.

Abby O’Connor will share remarks as Faculty Senate President.

The session will conclude with the annual raffle of prizes. Be sure to stick around to see if you are a winner!